House Lawmakers Voice Support for AUKUS in Letter to Pentagon Chief
In a letter sent to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on July 22, Reps. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) stated that the three countries are 'stronger together' under the AUKUS framework, in the face of the Chinese regime's expanded capabilities and coercive actions against its neighbors.
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Politico
3 minutes ago
- Politico
California's war with Texas gets real
STATE STANDOFF: The longstanding tension between California and Texas has gone from a dull hum to an all-out conflagration. Lone Star State Republicans' efforts to redraw their congressional map at the behest of President Donald Trump prompted Democratic lawmakers to abscond to New York, Illinois and Massachusetts in a last-ditch attempt to resist the maneuver. But it's California where Gov. Gavin Newsom's pledge to reconfigure districts to pick up Democratic seats could have a significant impact on the balance of power in Congress in the midterms. It's perhaps the biggest moment in the modern political battle between California and Texas, whose long-running feud has for years served mostly as a symbolic proxy war for Democrats and Republicans. Now, things are getting real. 'I'm not going to sit back any longer in the fetal position, a position of weakness, when in fact California can demonstrably advance strength,' Newsom said at a recent news conference. Things were less serious in 2014, when then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry drove through Sacramento in a Tesla to needle then-California Gov. Jerry Brown as the two were competing to host the company's battery plant. Perry had already run California radio ads promoting Texas' business-friendly climate, which Brown waved away as 'barely a fart.' Before Perry's L Street cruise, former GOP Assemblymember Chuck DeVore praised tax policies in Texas — a place he's since made his home. And he was hardly alone. Democratic leaders rail against Texas gun and abortion policies, while Republicans portray California as an overregulated nanny state plagued by crime and homelessness. 'Texas is an easy punching bag for liberals. California is an easy punching bag for conservatives,' Kevin Shuvalov, a Houston-based strategist, told POLITICO way back in 2017. Newsom is no stranger to this rhetoric. In 2022, he spent campaign money on billboard and newspaper ads touting California's abortion rights and denouncing Texas' gun-friendly politics. The same year, the governor signed legislation allowing Californians to sue people and companies that dispense banned guns — an answer to Texas' 'bounty'-style anti-abortion law that employed a similar legal mechanism. This time, Newsom's offensive could affect national politics far more than a billboard showing a woman in handcuffs. If he succeeds, California could pick up five Democratic congressional seats, a change the governor and House members say is necessary to combat GOP tactics. 'When Trump actually says he's at war, and the war's with Democrats, we're not bringing a butter knife to a gun fight,' San Diego Rep. Scott Peters told Playbook. IT'S TUESDAY AFTERNOON. This is California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check on California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to lholden@ WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY KICK 'EM OUT: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton today announced he's moving forward with plans to remove absent state Democrats from office, our Andrew Howard reports. Paxton said he would begin asking Texas courts on Friday to remove the Democrats if they do not return to Austin. 'Democrats have abandoned their offices by fleeing Texas, and a failure to respond to a call of the House constitutes a dereliction of their duty as elected officials,' Paxton said in a statement. 'Starting Friday, any rogue lawmakers refusing to return to the House will be held accountable for vacating their office. The people of Texas elected lawmakers, not jet-setting runaways looking for headlines. If you don't show up to work, you get fired.' The legal process to remove the lawmakers will likely take time. First, Paxton must file a case against each individual absent Democrat in various district courts, a process that would surely lead to appeals and could drag out long beyond the end of the special session on Aug. 19. IN OTHER NEWS CLOSING TIME: Newsom's administration yesterday announced it will close a Riverside County prison by fall 2026, following through on the governor's pledge to shutter a fourth state-owned facility. The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will shut down the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, which the agency estimates will save $150 million per year. Newsom has closed three state-owned prisons and a leased facility staffed by state corrections employees during his time in office. The governor announced plans to close another prison as a cost-cutting measure during his revised budget presentation in May. FOX'S ELEX-IT: Longtime Fox 11 Los Angeles anchor Elex Michaelson announced today he's leaving the station to 'pursue an exciting new opportunity.' Michaelson, who hosts the California politics show 'The Issue Is,' said in an X post that his last day will be Aug. 15. He said he's not allowed to share information about his next move 'just yet.' 'What I can talk my enormous gratitude to my incredibly talented FOX 11 colleagues, all the guests I've had the honor of interviewing, and so many of you for your support,' Michaelson said. WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY — Los Angeles County chief executive Fesia Davenport warned the Board of Supervisors that the county is grappling with financial pressures that will require program cuts, including the potential closure of a public hospital. (LAist) — Families in Central California have been preparing for potential ICE raids by planning who they will call and who will take care of their kids. (The Fresno Bee) — AT&T, which provides much of California's landline service, has taken its battle to drop landline service to California customers to the legislature after regulators blocked its bid last year. (The Mercury News) AROUND THE STATE — Religious leaders and volunteers can now accompany people to San Diego's immigration court under a pilot program that focuses on offering spiritual support to those who need it. (The San Diego Union-Tribune) — The city of San Diego will use more than $8 million in settlement funds from SeaWorld's unpaid rent lawsuit to improve public parks, but some South Bay residents expressed disappointment that their communities weren't included. (inewsource) — A Los Angeles college's culinary program had an uptick in enrollment last academic year even as other programs and hundreds of restaurants in the region have shuttered. (The Los Angeles Times) — compiled by Juliann Ventura
Washington Post
3 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Trump to host leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan for peace talks at White House
President Donald Trump will host leaders from Armenia and Azerbaijan at the White House on Friday as he tries to broker a peace deal between two nations that have been locked in a decades-long conflict. The meeting, first confirmed to The Washington Post by two senior White House officials, is the latest example of the president's efforts to bring about an end to international conflicts — and to receive credit for doing so. One of the White House officials, both of whom requested anonymity to discuss plans not yet announced, said it was possible that a peace agreement could be announced between Azerbaijan and Armenia as leaders from the countries meet with Trump on Friday. Azerbaijan's president, Ilham Aliyev, and Armenia's prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, are each expected to meet with Trump. The leaders of the two countries met last month in the United Arab Emirates to hold peace talks, though no resolution was announced after the meetings despite officials announcing earlier in the year that a tentative agreement had been drafted. The two former Soviet territories have fought for the past several decades, ever since the Nagorno-Karabakh region separated from Azerbaijan to be governed by Armenia. The region was heavily made up of an Armenian population before Azerbaijani troops took control of it in September 2023, causing many ethnic Armenians to flee. Ahead of his election, Trump vowed in an October Truth Social post to 'protect persecuted Christians,' and blasted his opponent Kamala Harris for doing 'NOTHING as 120,000 Armenian Christians were horrifically persecuted and forcibly displaced.' Trump said he would 'work to stop the violence and ethnic cleansing, and we will restore PEACE between Armenia and Azerbaijan.' Trump in June celebrated a peace agreement brokered by the U.S. between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, doing so with the signing of a peace agreement in the Oval Office. 'In a few short months, we've now achieved peace between India and Pakistan, India and Iran, and the DRC and Rwanda, and a couple of others, also," Trump said during the June Oval Office event. The president has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by multiple world leaders in recent months, a tactic they have used to both celebrate Trump's peacekeeping efforts and to curry favor with him. Cambodia's deputy prime minister announced this week that the country would nominate Trump, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in July that he was nominating Trump for the prize. In June, Pakistan declared it was nominating Trump for the prize after his efforts to bring about peace in the violent conflict between Pakistan and India earlier this year. The Nobel Peace Prize is scheduled to be awarded in December.
Yahoo
8 minutes ago
- Yahoo
John Cornyn Asks FBI To Help Track Down, Arrest Texas Democrats
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) ramped up his party's fight with Texas Democrats on Tuesday by asking the FBI to help Gov. Greg Abbott (R) track down and arrest lawmakers who left the state to block a controversial redistricting vote. In a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel, Cornyn asked if the bureau could help find or arrest the Democrats serving in the state's House who denied Republicans a quorum on Monday by leaving Texas and called them 'potential lawbreakers.' 'In a representative democracy, we resolve our differences by debating and voting, not by running away,' Cornyn charged. 'These legislators have committed potential criminal acts in their rush to avoid their constitutional responsibilities and must be fully investigated and held accountable,' he continued. Though Texas' Republican-dominated House issued civil arrest warrants for the absent Democrats, state troopers Abbott deployed cannot pursue them outside the state of Texas. Cornyn's request is an attempt to circumnavigate that roadblock. 'The FBI has tools to aid state law enforcement when parties cross state lines, including to avoid testifying or fleeing a scene of a crime,' he wrote. Cornyn also claimed that 'legislators who solicited or accepted funds to aid in their efforts to avoid their legislative duties may be guilty of bribery or other public corruption offenses' ― an apparent reference to Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker offering the Texas Democrats his support. The FBI declined to comment on Cornyn's request, but Trump expressed support when asked if the FBI should get involved. 'Well, they may have to,' Trump said at a press conference on Tuesday. 'A lot of people are demanding they come back. You can't just sit it out.' The dozens of Democratic state lawmakers who left Texas this week did so in a coordinated effort to prevent Republicans from voting on a redrawn congressional map desired by Trump ahead of the 2026 midterms. If Trump gets his way, there will be five more GOP-leaning congressional seats in Texas. The president has been blunt about this pursuit. 'We have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats. We have a really good governor, and we have good people in Texas. And I won Texas,' Trump said on CNBC Tuesday. 'I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know, and we are entitled to five more seats.' This isn't the first time Texas lawmakers have left the state in protest. In 2021, Texas House Democrats left the state for 38 days over new voting restrictions. Related... Texas Dems Prevent Trump-Backed Redistricting Vote Despite Abbott's Threats Beto O'Rourke Says Third Trump Term Is Coming If Texas Democrats Don't Fight Back Texas Democrats Take Extreme Measures To Block Redistricting Vote
